Tales of the bazaar

A history tracing the rise and fall of Woolworths in Ireland ranges from a nostalgic spree for lovers of HB ice cream to an analysis of the store’s failure

Ireland's first Woolworth store opened on Grafton Steet, Dublin, in 1914

M
ention the name Woolworths, and people become instantly nostalgic,
remembering visits to the iconic store for ice cream or pick’n’mix sweets.
But few will be aware of its humble beginnings, which is presumably what
prompted the historian Barbara Walsh to retrace Woolworths from its origins
as a 10-cent store in the Pennsylvania town of Lancaster in 1879, through to
its collapse into administration in 2008. Extensive use of first-hand
accounts bring depth and colour to what might otherwise have been a mundane
narrative.

Ireland’s first Woolworth store opened on Dublin’s Grafton Street on April 23,
1914. Imaginative window displays and the promise of “nothing over sixpence”
enticed customers into a bazaar-like world where relative luxuries such as
toys, stationery, ribbons and lace could be bought affordably. With its red
and gold sign and distinctive Woolworth aroma — a “strange mixture of oiled
pitch-pine floors, marshmallow sweets, paper bags, bath salts [and]